A.A.C. fave Daniel Traub currently has a solo exhibition (three large-format images) at the Art Institute of Philadelphia’s 1622 Chestnut Street Gallery through October 16th.   An artist’s reception is scheduled from 4:30-7:30 pm on Thursday, September 17th– no RSVP required.

While the ten photographers (including five Americans) being featured in this year’s International Fashion and Photography Festival are described as “emerging,” many of them have been producing quality work for well over a decade.

One such example is the artist Daniel Traub, whose “Two Boys, North Philadelphia” is pictured above.  This particular image struck me for the surprising sense of calm it captures, particularly in the boys’ faces, in contrast to a dynamic scene that one would expect when photographing urban youth.  His earlier Simplified Characters series uses exactly that approach– shooting unposed Chinese city-dwellers going about their seemingly typical days.

While the festival closes today, the artwork will remain on display in Hyeres (WordPress is giving me difficulty with getting an accent over the first ‘e’– anyone have suggestions?!), France, through early June.  A close second (it’s almost like being in a Mediterranean paradise, right?) would be Googling the artists; it’s a quality and diverse bunch and worth checking out.